Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Drops $380; Ethereum, Ripple (XRP) Plunge 9%

Cryptocurrency analysts had predicted that the bitcoin price was about to break away from its $6,550 peg, and those predictions came true early Thursday morning. Unfortunately for investors, though, this movement did not occur to the upside.

After briefly making a push toward $6,700 earlier in the week, the bitcoin price was holding steady between $6,550 and $6,600 leading into Thursday morning. Shortly before 1:00 UTC, however, BTC/USD took a steep downward turn, plunging from $6,594 to $6,252 in just 35 minutes. As of the time of writing, the flagship cryptocurrency was priced at $6,288 on Bitfinex, representing a daily decline of about five percent.

The drop was even more pronounced in altcoin markets, with ethereum and ripple (XRP) both taking a nine percent haircut, and bitcoin cash dropping a full 10 percent to $462. As of the time of writing, the cryptocurrency market cap stood just below the $206 billion mark.